Tony Ferguson suffered a broken orbital bone during his contest with Justin Gaethje, UFC president Dana White has confirmed.
Ferguson suffered a brutal beating by Gaethje in last night’s main event at UFC 249, before the referee stepped in to wave things off during the fifth and final round.
At that point, Ferguson had clearly been rocked, and was shaking his head after a particularly thudding blow in an apparent attempt to clear his senses.
As it turns out, that could have been the moment he suffered an injury, as White confirmed to Yahoo Sport’s Kevin Iole Ferguson hadn’t left the arena with merely superficial injuries.
Per @danawhite, @TonyFergusonXT suffered an orbital fracture in his loss to @Justin_Gaethje at #UFC249
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) May 10, 2020
What’s next for Ferguson is unknown, although it seems likely he’ll be required to take an extended lay-off to recover. For Gaethje on the other hand, things are far more certain.
The new interim lightweight champion will now go on to meet Khabib Nurmagomedov later this year to unify the 155-pound titles.
